Race to the bottom

One could suggest that the moment when your populace is recovering from a number of natural disasters of the extreme weather event variety, would be just the moment where the urgency for collective action on greenhouse gas emission reduction and climate change adaptation would begin to dawn on decision makers.

Perhaps the token programs you've already got in place would be bolstered, or you'd actually decide to take a real leadership role? Or perhaps not.

The Australian - Greens angry over climate change scheme cuts - 28 Jan 2011

Middle class Mc Donalds

Today I bought cheap, synthetic, made in China clothes from an outlet store which was going out of business. Two shirts, a pair of pants and a pair of shoes for cycling to work, all for $65. Who knows how many hands the clothes have passed through before they made it to the laundry basket? The irony of the situation was not lost on me, though I'm sure it's a bitter irony for the factory workers in the factory in China where the clothes came from, if they've not been sent back to the country that is. At least they'll be with family now.

I went to a local furniture store selling hand-made dining suites. It's Easter and he's keeping the store open for as many hours as he can. Saturday, Sunday and Monday. I wonder how much longer he'll be there for?

I remember when Georgie Pie in Kelston was bought out, in its place the ubiquitous, backlit golden arches now stand. Then it was Subway which meant that your town was on the map. But I don't eat fast food anymore because of what it is and what it represents. Because they're selling more than just food and you can't kid yourself that food is all your getting.

Tomorrow I'm going to go to Ikea to finish furnishing our new flat.
Would you like to upsize to the three seater sir, or how about some cushions with your flat-packed shelves?

So Melbourne eh?

Much to my delight and tainted only by the no doubt disappointed locals, the much needed rain which greeted me upon arrival and dampened the fires which have now burnt for a month, has given way to the glorious sun which I was so expecting and a pleasant breeze keeping the flags fluttering outside the train station. My first few days of my new home town has largely been administrative. Flat finding, bank accounts, tax numbers.... Though in a new town even the wandering of streets in new suburbs visiting the office by train and tram and sitting outside next to Flinder's St Station enjoying a new beer has a charm and air of adventure afforded only to the newly arrived.

The town planner in me thinks that Melbourne is what Auckland could be when it grows up. Though fitting another 3 million people in Auckland to reach what some may consider a minimum for 'vibrancy', seems somewhat of a tall order.

So, other than the absence of a certain someone, perhaps an initial overoptimism regarding the ease of finding a humble abode and the current economic climate (as unapparent at street level as it is) to say my arrival has been a positive experience would rate in my top 10 understatements.

Cheers to Melbourne.

Turkey

We started with four days in Istanbul visiting the bazaars, mosques & palaces, taking time out for a cup of Turkish chai or a cheap meal. Cheap is perhaps not quite the right word for anything in Turkey, we soon became aware that our expectations of cost were to fall well short of reality with the result of one or two more chip sandwiches being consumed than expected.

We went South East, down the Aegean coast by boat, then train & finally bus to Seljuk having made the decision to bypass Gallipoli & Troy. Three days in Seljuk was just enough to explore the magnificent ruins of Ephesus & enjoy the little town & it's own sights including the supposed resting place of St Paul, visit the museum & get the feat wet in the Aegean sea.

On we went & inland to Pamukkale, the white limestone terraces & the ruins of Heriapolis. We didn't overnight there, rather arriving by bus in the morning & that evening taking an overnight bus further North East into Cappadocia from the uninspiring transit point of Denzili at the bottom of the valley.

I think for the both of us Cappadocia, based out of the over-wintering town of Göreme, was the highlight. The stunning natural & cultural landscape each inseparable from the other.

Our trip concluded with one night in Istanbul & an early morning start to catch our flight where I'm writing this entry.

Other than a willing of people to help while expecting nothing in return, it is hard to try & pin down what impression I am left with especially with the contrasting images of Cappadocia its vineyards & alien landscape & Istanbul, the high street of the fashionable Takshin district packed with the same shops & labels, girls handing out flyers & cell phones, watches, handbags other ubiquitous status symbols.

There was the quiet & respectful Sami who in spite of speaking only a handful of English words toured us around Cappadocia.
Our host in Seljuk giving us an important part of his life story & treating us more like friends than customers.
The old church turned mosque turned museum that is the majestic Hagia Sophia & the functioning Blue mosque across the concourse.
The homes, tunnels, hiding places & churches of Cappadocia with their vandalized frescoes.
The abused streams & rivers running through villages seen from the railway to be full of plastic bags adhered to rocks & clinging to low hanging branches.
The clear, star-fill skies over Göreme & choking coal smoke haze which descends over Denzili & obscures the beautiful snow capped mountains which surround.
The ancient ruins of Ephesus & Heriopolis & the endless apartments sprawling out into the surrounds of Istanbul.

First frost & the summer that never was.

I wonder if waking to the news that Americans have elected their first black president, with a name which could hardly be less Americana, Barack Hussein Obama, will be one of those moments of such great change that the green glow of the clock radio and it's not quite tuned fuzz will be cemented in my mind like 9/11. It was a bit amusing that while there appeared to be no problems in streaming Mr Obama's acceptance speech, trying to watch highlights of Lewis Hamilton taking the F1 world championship by coming 5th in the Brazilian Grand Prix I kept coming up against "the server is busy".

Since last time I wrote winter has begun in earnest. With the clocks set back an hour, while it's lighter in the mornings it's dark by about 5:00, 4:30 when it's overcast. I'm glad to have double-glazing and good heating. I found myself wondering who broke the ice on the puddles at the stations cycle racks the other morning and who sprinkles salt on the train platforms. I've learnt how painful cold ears can be while cycling when you forget you beanie and likewise with fingers without gloves. It even snowed the other night, not here in Cambridge but there would have been about a foot of snow just north of London that I saw out the window of the train. As un-seasonal it was it lasted two days.

Having made a decision to forgo four hours of commuting a day, with the support of a loving (and employed) partner I'm now finally seeking opportunities in Conservation. My want to work for a healthy planet is nothing new but finding where to finally clip my piece of the puzzle into place has been and is an ongoing process. Without taking this puzzle analogy too far my picture is still fuzzy, my shape still poorly formed and colors still watery, perhaps it's best that it stays that way. Anyway for the time being I've been fortunate to be able to draw a line-in-the-sand from a career perspective and shake off the feeling that I was risking pigeon-holing myself into in an area away from where my passion lies. And what better time to do it than whilst on the other side of the world, with a temporary visa, in the middle of a global financial crisis? Hmmm.

Peace.

London (morning irony)

Today, the sun shines… so in good London style I made like a mole blinded by the light and having briefly emerged from the station building I immediately vanished again beneath the pavement for the remainder of my morning commute.

There are two things that I’m not in a habit of:
1. Reading the “Metro” and similar free papers which would do better as weed matting than adding unnecessarily to the general Beijing-like smog of social pollution; and
2. Let waves of irony sweep over me before 10:00am

Today I broke both. While listening to Radio NZ National’s morning report about Winston Peters turning up to make his final stand in front of the privileges committee, I lazily picked up a discarded Metro, as much to do my bit to make sure it ended up in the correct recycling facility than to read it you must understand, when the tragic irony of a little story brought a cynical smile to my face.

“Global warming is melting the polar ice cap, easing access for oil and mineral exploration”

This was not news to me, not the melting, nor the scramble for Arctic oil, nor Russia’s “see you can tell it’s mine because it’s touching my shoelace” logic to their Arctic seabed claim [Similar logic to that which has seen NZ receive international recognition of its sovereignty over seabed out to the edge of the continental shelf except it’s on our petticoat]. Although perhaps somewhat more blatant than usual, this article and its crude failing to identify the real issue managed to focus my attention back on a perennial gripe to such a degree that I felt a scribble was the only way to purge it from my mind [this being the result some time after the event].

For me at least, it is no longer that the Arctic is melting, nor that there is a new territorial scramble, not even that Russia planted a flag on the seabed. But that you can still print that climate change is threatening civilisation as we know it while simultaneously celebrating the discovery of, or invention of technology which enables the extraction of further fossil fuel resources, or in this case a silver lining (or golden parachute) of global warming. This is like a dying alcoholic, having finally run out of spirits celebrating their discovery that that they can get pissed off that bottle of meths they’ve got in the garden shed if they drain it through a loaf of bread. So what’s your poison? In the northern hemisphere it’s the Arctic, in New Zealand it’s the Great Southern Basin.
Surely we don’t actually need an ice over the Great Southern Basin to be melting as a result of burning the stuff we’re planning on sucking up from under to make us think twice.

Energy and Climate Change Minister David Parker on the opening of the Great Southern Basin to exploration back in 2007.

"Assuming exploration success, the country stands to earn significant revenue from royalties and taxes flowing from this investment, and it will assist in ensuring security of energy supply," said David Parker.

"Although the world is working to lessen its reliance on fossil fuels, we will be dependent on oil and gas for some time to come. It is in our economic interest that the oil we use comes from local sources if possible.

"As with other fossil fuels, it is important that New Zealand take responsibility for the greenhouse gas emissions that come from its use here, just as Japan does for the emissions that come from coal they import from New Zealand."

this is called missing the point